Sri Lanka has offered to supply the U.N. with three Mi-24 attack helicopters and a pair of fix wing aircraft, a pledge that would help the U.N. meet a severe a shortfall in lethal combat equipment in places like Congo and Sudan and help protect civilians, U.N. based officials told Turtle Bay.

But the U.N. may not be able to accept them.

The Sri Lankan armed forces have come under scrutiny for allegedly committing mass atrocities during the final 2009 offensive against the country's separatists Tamil Tigers. A decision to accept the Sri Lankan offer would not only generate controversy but potentially trigger a U.S. review of Sri Lanka's human rights conduct.

Under the so-called Leahy law, written by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)the State Department is required to vet the human rights records of foreign military contingents serving in U.N. peacekeeping missions, if there is reason to believe they may have been engaged in atrocities.

An independent panel, set up by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki moon, concluded in April that there are "credible allegations" that Sri Lanka troops, as well as the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. More than 40,000 civilians may have died in the war, most of them victims of indiscriminate government shelling, according to the U.N. panel.

The Sri Lanka pledge appears calculated to improve Sri Lanka's relationship with the United Nations at a time when it is facing mounting U.N. pressure to hold alleged war criminals within the army's ranks accountable for crimes, according to U.N. officials. It would certainly be harder, they say, to criticize Colombo if the organization was dependent on its air force for vital assets in combat.

Peacekeepers from other countries, including Rwanda, have faced scrutiny over alleged rights abuses. The Rwanda government threatened to withdraw its peacekeeping force from Darfur, Sudan, after the U.N. moved to force out a Rwandan commander, General Karake Karenzi, who was allegedly involved in rights abuses in Rwanda and eastern Congo during the mid to late 1990s. The United States backed Karenzi, despite internal U.S. government concerns about his rights record.

Sri Lanka has participated in U.N. peacekeeping operations for more than 50 years, and it currently has more than 1,200 blue helmets serving in U.N. missions. In his September 2010 address to the U.N. General Assembly, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaska, defended Sri Lanka's conduct during the war while affirming Sri Lanka's "willingness to further enhance our support to the U.N. Peacekeeping Operations."

"Our armed forces and the police are today combat tested, with a capacity to carry out their duties in the most challenging conditions."

Britain introduced a draft U.N. Security Council resolution today condemning Syria's "systematic" violations of human rights as part of a bloody crackdown on anti-government demonstrations, and calling for a "credible and impartial" investigation into abuses of peaceful demonstrators, according to a confidential copy of the draft obtained by Turtle Bay.

The British draft, which was co-sponsored by France, Germany, and Portugal, aims at using the U.N. Security Council to ratchet up political pressure on Syria to restrain its forces. But it faces the prospects of a veto by China and Russia, Syria's closest allies on the 15-nation council. The United States has vowed to support the draft resolutions.

U.N. diplomats say they are confident that they have secured the minimum nine votes required for adoption of a resolution, and they were prepared to risk a veto from Russia or China. "If anyone votes against that resolution or tries to veto it, that should be on their conscience," British Prime Minister David Cameron said today.

Here is a copy of the British draft resolution:

Draft SCR on Syria

The Security Council,

Expressing grave concern at the situation in Syria and condemning the violence and use of force,

Welcoming the Secretary-General's statements articulating continued concerns about the on-going violence and humanitarian needs, and calling for an independent investigation of all killings during recent demonstrations,

Welcoming also the G8 statement of 27 May 2011, and other regional and bilateral diplomatic efforts to address the deteriorating situation in Syria,

Welcoming further Human Rights Council resolution A/HRC/RES/S-16/1 of 29 April 2011, including the decision to request the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to dispatch a mission to Syria to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law and to establish the facts and circumstances of such violations and of the crimes perpetrated, with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring full accountability,

Considering that the widespread and systematic attacks currently taking place in Syria by the authorities against its people may amount to crimes against humanity,

Expressing concern at the reports of shortages of medical supplies to treat the wounded, caused partly by deliberate prevention of such supplies by the Government of Syria, and at the reports of numerous civilians trying to flee the violence,

Echoing the Secretary-General's concern at the humanitarian impact of the violence on a number of Syrian towns, and fully supporting the UN's humanitarian assessment mission to Syria,

Recalling the Syrian authorities' responsibility to protect its population, and to allow unhindered and sustained access for humanitarian aid and humanitarian organisations,

Underlining the need to respect the freedoms of peaceful assembly and of expression, including freedom of the media and access for international media,

Stressing that the only solution to the current crisis in Syria is through an inclusive and Syrian-led political process, noting the stated intention of the Government of Syria to take steps for reform, regretting the lack of progress in implementation, and stressing the need for the Syrian Government to implement reforms fully,

Stressing also the need to hold to account those responsible for attacks, including by forces under the control of the Government of Syria, on peaceful protesters and other individuals,

Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria,

Concerned by the continuing deterioration of the situation in Syria and the potential for further escalation of the violence,

Further concerned by the risks to regional peace and stability posed by the deteriorating situation in Syria, and mindful of its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security under the Charter of the United Nations,

1. Condemns the systematic violation of human rights, including the killings, arbitrary detentions, disappearances, and torture of peaceful demonstrators, human rights defenders and journalists by the Syrian authorities, and violence against security forces, and expresses deep regret at the deaths of hundreds of people;

2. Demands an immediate end to the violence, and for steps to address the legitimate aspirations of the population, and calls upon all sides to act with utmost restraint, respect human rights law and international humanitarian law, and refrain from reprisals;

3. Calls upon the Syrian authorities to:

(a) immediately lift the siege of affected towns, including Jisr al-Shughour and Deraa, restore medical, fuel and electricity supplies and communications, and allow immediate, unfettered and sustained access for international human rights monitors and humanitarian agencies and workers;

(b) implement reforms aimed at allowing genuine political participation, inclusive dialogue and effective exercise of fundamental freedoms, immediately release all prisoners of conscience and arbitrarily detained persons, and immediately lift restrictions on all forms of media; and;

(c) launch a credible and impartial investigation in accordance with its international obligations and hold to account those responsible for attacks against peaceful demonstrators, including by forces under the control of the Syrian Government, and co-operate fully with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights mission as set forth in Human Rights Council resolution A/HRC/RES/S-16/1 of 29 April 2011;

4. Calls upon all States to exercise vigilance and prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer to Syria of arms and related materiel of all types;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to report on implementation of this resolution within 14 days of its adoption, and every 30 days thereafter;

6. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.

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Nearly two months ago the U.N.'s chief peacekeeping official, Alain Le Roy, convened a press conference to talk up a string of U.N. successes around the world.

In Haiti, the United Nations helped usher through a relatively peaceful political transition; in Ivory Coast, U.N. attack helicopters backed a French assault that brought down Ivoirian strongman Laurent Gbagbo; and in Sudan, the United Nations oversaw a landmark independence referendum in Southern Sudan that is likely to set the stage for the south's recognition this summer as the U.N.'s newest member. "In the three cases, the peacekeepers made a huge difference," Le Roy said.

Le Roy contrasted the U.N.'s achievements with the darkest days of U.N. peacekeeping in the 1990s when U.N. blue helmets stood by in the face of mass atrocities in places like Srebrenica and Rwanda, and paid tribute to the sacrifices of U.N. personnel who had died in the cause of peace, including 44 U.N. civilian and uniformed peacekeepers who were killed in a 10-day stretch in Afghanistan, Congo, Haiti, and Ivory Coast.

But in recent weeks the U.N. has suffered some heavy body blows to its reputation: In Haiti, a medical panel published circumstantial evidence suggesting U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal may have been responsible for introducing cholera into Haiti, killing more than 4,000 people. And in the contested town of Abyei, Sudan, a battalion of 850 U.N. peacekeepers from Zambia hid in their barracks as Sudanese forces looted and burned homes, prompting sharp criticism from local officials and U.N. Security Council diplomats who described their conduct as disgraceful.

Violence flared up last month in Abyei, Sudan's most dangerous flashpoint, in the run-up of Southern Sudan's plan to declare independence next month from the north, splitting Africa's largest country into two nations. Abyei was supposed to join Southern Sudan in holding a referendum on independence, but the move stalled over differences involving oil revenues, water, and voting rights. The dispute pits the farming tribes of the Ngok Dinka, who are aligned with the south, against the Khartoum-backed nomadic herding tribes of the Misseriya, who graze their cattle in Abyei during the dry season. U.N. officials have long feared that a fight over Abyei could trigger a resumption of civil war between north and south, which claimed more than 2 million lives before a 2005 peace accord halted the fighting.

Troops from the southern Sudanese People's Liberation Army opened fire on a contingent of U.N. peacekeepers escorting a Sudanese military convoy. The Sudanese military's reaction appeared premeditated and disproportionate, according to U.N. diplomats. Sudanese aircraft, tanks, and troops riding motorcycles attacked the town, burning homes and looting property. Nearly 80,000 people, mostly members of the Ngok Dinka tribe, fled their homes, and thousands of pro-government Arab Misseriya tribesmen have since flowed into to take up residence. An internal U.N. report, obtained by the Associated Press, said the Sudanese Armed Forces' "occupation" of Abyei might result in ethnic cleansing. "The SAF attack and occupation of Abyei and the resultant displacement of over 30,000 Ngok Dinkas from Abyei could lead to ethnic cleansing, if conditions for the return of the displaced Ngok Dinka residents are not created," according to the report.

Responsibility for the current upsurge in violence in Abyei rests primarily with Khartoum and the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement. But the episode provided another depressing example of U.N. timidity that recalled some of the worst moments in U.N. history. A battalion of Zambian blue helmets based in Abyei remained in their barracks for two days as Sudan's army attacked the town, ignoring pleas from the U.N. special representative, Haile Menkerios, to take action. "When the Sudanese army invaded, they retreated to their bunkers," Asha Abbas Akuei, who represents Abyei in the South Sudan Legislative Assembly, told Rebecca Hamilton in an article published on Slate.

The Abyei episode points to a deeper problem that has plagued many of the U.N.'s most complex peacekeeping missions. The United Nations has been forced to rely primarily on infantry troops from developing countries without the more advanced military hardware -- including attack helicopters, advanced logistics, and intelligence -- that is required to succeed, according to peacekeeping experts. "Large-scale heavy infantry frankly don't do much to reinforce the political process unless they have mobility that can deliver military punch," said Bruce Jones, director of the Center on International Cooperation at New York University.

In Ivory Coast, where the U.N. certified the presidential election of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara last November, the U.N. peacekeeping mission failed to compel the loser, Laurent Gbagbo, to step down or to protect civilians targeted by his forces. It was not until France, backed by U.N. peacekeepers and forces loyal to Ouattara, intervened that the course of the conflict changed and Gbagbo was deposed.

"So here we were in Cote d'Ivoire in a total stalemate, going nowhere against a second-tier army," Jones said. "It took a combination of Ouattara's forces and the French to turn the day. It shows a very small contribution of high-order [military] capability can transform a peacekeeping force from being irrelevant to being very productive. It shows that peacekeeping can work, but it took a while to get there."

Abyei, Jones added, provides a painful illustration of the limits of U.N. peacekeeping without the advanced military resources that the French were able to bring to bear in Ivory Coast, but which no major outside power has been willing to commit to Sudan. The few countries that possess those capabilities, including the United States, Britain, France, and other advanced military powers, have been unwilling to supply them, citing other obligations from Afghanistan to Iraq and now Libya. Khartoum, meanwhile, has sought to block Western powers with the military wherewithal to confront his troops from serving in the country.

"It's very far from clear that large-scale infantry can do much in Abyei," Jones said. "So, we're spending a billion dollars a year" to field a peacekeeping mission "without the vital ingredient that can actually make it work. If we can't stop major violations … then what are we doing there?"

A U.N. peacekeeping spokesman, Michel Bonnardeaux, said a review of the Zambians' conduct concluded that "our troops could have and should have had more visibility to deter any violence against civilians and the destruction against property." But "it must be recognized that most civilians left the area before the peak of the crisis and that UNMIS [the U.N. Mission in Sudan] troops and civilians were themselves in imminent danger as the UNMIS compound was hit," he said.

Bonnardeaux said the U.N.'s top military advisor, who traveled to Sudan to interview the Zambians, has instructed the contingent "to be more proactive and visible" in the future.

The U.N. Security Council, however, is exploring the possibility of authorizing the deployment of Ethiopian troops into Abyei to help restore order and prevent a resumption of a civil war. Under the proposal, the northern army would withdraw from the Abyei area to make way for thousands of Ethiopian soldiers, who would help monitor a cease-fire along the border.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, issued a statement demanding that Sudan withdraw its forces from Abyei and "ensure an immediate halt to all looting, burning and illegal resettlement." The council also voiced "grave concern following the reports about the unusual, sudden influx of thousands of Misseriya into Abyei town and its environs that could force significant changes in the ethnic composition of the area."

The White House today announced it would impose unilateral sanctions against Syria, signaling its desire to ratchet up pressure on President Bashar al Assad to halt his crackdown on protesters.

The U.S. action drew rare praise from foreign policy conservatives, including Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, who said the move "should mark the end of the failed policy of engagement and accommodation with Damascus."

But at the United Nations, the American delegation has been hesitant to press for an equally hard-line approach, fearing an aggressive push to penalize Syria in the U.N. Security Council might provoke a Russian or Chinese veto.

In late April, Chinese, Russian, Lebanese and other diplomats effectively blocked an effort by the Europeans to push through a mild, non-binding, Security Council statement condemning Syria's violent crackdown on mostly unarmed protesters.

The United States is concerned that another failed push for Security Council action on Syria would give comfort to President Assad, exposing the deep international rift over the right approach to restraining Syria.

In the absence of an American push, Britain and France have taken the lead in seeking a tougher approach. In recent days, the two European powers have sounded out other Security Council members about the prospects for the adoption of a resolution that would condemn Syria and urge it to halt further violence.

Britain and France are confident that they can muster the minimum nine votes required to adopt a modest resolution that would condemn Syria, ask it to show restraint, and encourage political reform. Britain and France also believe it may be worth risking a Russian or Chinese veto, and exposing them as defenders of a brutal Middle East regime that is resistant to democratic change sweeping the region. "There is a real risk that the council, by failing to act, is sending the signal that what Assad is doing is within the bounds of international tolerance," said one council diplomat. "We need to change that."

The United Nations maintains that more than 850 people have been killed in Syria in recent months, most of them civilian targets of a bloody government crackdown. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has charged Assad with ignoring a recent call for restraint by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which condemned Syria's conduct

While the U.S. worries that forcing a losing vote may play to Assad's advantage, they are likely to support Britain and France if they decide to move ahead with a vote on a resolution, according to diplomats.

The deadlock over Syria contrasts starkly with the council's response to a Libyan crackdown on protesters in February.  In a remarkable show of unity, the 15-nation council voted unanimously on February 26 to impose sanctions on President Moammar Qadaffi's regime, and authorize an investigation by the International Criminal Court prosecutor into allegations that the regime committed crimes against humanity. On Monday, the court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, requested arrest warrants for President Qaddafi, his son Saif, and his intelligence chief, Abdullah Senoussi.

But the unity has frayed since the council passed a subsequent resolution authorizing military action to protect civilians by a vote of only 10-0, with five abstentions. Since, then China, India, Russia, and other council members have accused the United States, Britain and France of exceeding the authority granted by the council to protect civilians by taking sides in a civil war.

The effort to squeeze Syria has also been complicated by the role of the council's lone Arab state Lebanon, which lead previous efforts at the United Nations to condemn Libya and to address allegations of government repression in Yemen. But Lebanon is unwilling to back any measures against Syria, which exerts enormous influence over Lebanese affairs. And there is no sign that other Arab governments will challenge Lebanon's approach.

The current dispute over Syria "is the hang over from Libya," one council diplomat told Turtle Bay.  "China and Russia feel a bit betrayed because the coalition went further than what was in the resolution. It diminished the possibility of replicating the Libya model in Yemen and Syria," where Russia and China have blocked action.

"There is a negative vibe post-Libya in the council," the diplomat said. "you did this in Libya and now you're going to pay for it. It's a pity. There is this political game of power in the council while people are being hurt on the ground."

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The Kuwaiti government has informed Western officials that it will mount a bid for the Arab seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, setting the stage for a likely end to Syria's controversial campaign to join the 47-member rights body, U.N. based diplomats told Turtle Bay.

Syria has not yet announced a decision to withdraw from the race, and its U.N. ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, told Turtle Bay Monday afternoon that his government planned to continue its pursuit of the seat. But the U.N.-based diplomat said that Syria has been engaged this week in talks with Kuwait and other Arab countries about the prospect of swapping Syria's rights seat for another U.N.-based post in the future.

In January, the U.N.'s Asian bloc, which includes Arab governments, selected a slate of four candidates, including India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Syria for four vacancies in the region. And last month, the U.N.'s Arab bloc publicly backed Syria's bid. The U.N. General Assembly is scheduled to vote to select the council's 15 new members on May 20.

But Syria's campaign has come under fire from the United States, European governments, and human rights activists in the wake of a bloody government crackdown, involving the use of tanks and live fire, on unarmed protesters. This morning, the New York Times published an editorial telling the members of the Arab and Asian blocs that they should be ashamed of their decision to support Syria.

In recent days, support for Syria in those groups has begun to wane. Last week, two key regional powers, Egypt and India, signaled that it was time for Syria to bow out of the race.

"Syria seems to have finally decided to withdraw from this election," said Peggy Hicks, head of global advocacy for Human Rights Watch. "But while the battle here in New York may be over, the violence in Syria is continuing and Human Rights Watch and other human rights activists will continue to press Syria to follow this action with concrete changes on the ground."

Western diplomats also interpreted the decision of Kuwait, which had previously refused to compete for the seat unless Syria stepped aside, as a sign that the Arab countries had struck a deal and that Syria would abandon its bid.

They hailed the development as a sign that the Human Rights Council, which has long been criticized for accepting rights abusers into its ranks, is showing a new willingness to block the world's worst rights abusers from joining the club.

Iran was forced to scrap its campaign to join the council last year in the face of widespread opposition. And the rights council took the unprecedented decision to suspend the membership of one of its members, Libya, because of concern over its brutal treatment of protesters.

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Last night, the U.N.'s top peacekeeping official, Alain Le Roy, hinted that the United Nations, backed by French forces, may have to resume helicopter gunship strikes against the forces of Ivorian strongman Laurent Gbagbo in order to protect his political rival, Alassane Ouattara. Ouattara defeated Gbagbo in Ivory Coast's U.N. certified president election in November, and he has gone on to win wide backing from the U.N. and foreign governments in Africa and beyond.

But Ouattara's standing as Ivory Coast's new leader is already being tarnished amid reports that forces loyal to his cause have engaged in gross human rights abuses during an offensive aimed at driving Gbagbo from power. Last night, Human Rights Watch released a damning report that accuses Ouattara's forces of killing hundreds of civilians, raping more than 20, and burning at least 10 villages during a military offensive last month.

The report also documents post-election atrocities by Gbagbo's loyalists, who have engaged in a campaign of intimidation and murder against members of ethnic groups believed loyal to Ouattara and against U.N. personnel who are protecting the president elect. For instance, the report uncovered evidence that on March 28 pro-Gbagbo forces massacred more than 100 men, women and children in the northern Ivorian village of Bloléquin. The following day, they killed another ten people in the town of Guiglo.

"To understand the tragic events in Côte d'Ivoire, a line cannot be drawn between north and south, or supporters of Gbagbo and Ouattara," Daniel Bekele, Human Rights Watch's Africa director said in a statement. "Unfortunately, there are those on both sides who have shown little regard for the dignity of human life." 

But the reports focus is primarily on violence carried out by Ouattara's forces against members of the pro-Gbagbo ethnic Guéré as they advanced across the country in a month-long offensive, capturing Gbagbo-controlled towns of Toulepleu, Doké, Bloléquin, Duékoué, and Guiglo in western Ivory Coast.

"People interviewed by Human Rights Watch described how, in village after village, pro-Ouattara forces, now called the Republican Forces of Côte d'Ivoire (Forces Républicaines de Côte d'Ivoire, FRCI), summarily executed and raped perceived Gbagbo supporters in their homes, as they worked in the fields, as they fled, or as they tried to hide in the bush," according to a report released by Human Rights Watch. "The fighters often targeted people by ethnicity, and the attacks disproportionally affected those too old or feeble to flee."

Outtara's army is comprised of a lose coalition of former Ivorian rebels from the north  and former Ivorian soldiers and police that defected from Gbagbo's security forces. The former rebels, known as the Forces Nouvelles, as well as Gbagbo's forces had committed serious atrocities during the countries previous civil war in 2002. The U.N., human rights groups and foreign governments have urged both sides to prevent such abuses in the current round of fighting. So far, the call hasn't been heeded.

"The month-long onslaught of abuses against Guéré civilians in the far west, which began in late February, culminated in the massacre of hundreds in the town of Duékoué on March 29," according to the Human Rights Watch report. "After securing the town that morning, fighters from the Republican Forces - accompanied by two pro-Ouattara militia groups - proceeded to the Gbagbo-stronghold neighborhood of Carrefour. Eight women told Human Rights Watch that pro-Ouattara forces dragged men, young and old, out of their homes and executed them with machetes and guns in the street, sometimes with multiple rounds of bullets. While committing the often gruesome killings, some attackers threatened "to kill the Guéré until the last one" because of their support for Gbagbo."

Ouattara's government has previously denied allegations that its troops have engaged in atrocities, and has offered to cooperate with an independent probe into allegations of atrocities at Duékoué. But Ouattara's U.N. envoy, Youssoufou Bamba, declined to respond to the specific allegations in the report, telling Turtle Bay he had only received a copy of it this morning and hadn't had time to form an official response.

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The popular overthrow of Tunisia’s former leader, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, has served as an inspiration for protesters in Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, and other Arab countries. But the Tunisian regime also emerged this week as a symbol of the excesses of the U.S.-led war on terrorism. A U.N. report revealed that the Tunisian government was practitioner of the poulet rôti (or rotisserie), the notorious torture technique which involves tying a detainee's wrists together under the knees and passing a pole between the arms and thighs.

Martin Scheinin, the U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, released a damning report this week on Tunisia’s use of secret detention centers in order to coerce confessions through torture and mistreatment. The 20-page report -- which is based on a field visit to Tunisia in January 2010 -- provides a chilling, if unsurprising, look at the repressive practices that prevail in the Middle East and played no small part in stoking Tunisia’s public uprising. It also provides further evidence of how Tunisia, like other authoritarian governments in the region, has used the war on terror to pass a set of vague and sweeping anti-terrorism laws that often target nonviolent dissidents and opposition figures.

"[I]t appears that the scope of application of the terrorism provisions in the law has grown too wide and should be reduced," the report states. "Any anti-terrorism law that is not properly confined to the countering of terrorism within the limits of human rights law is problematic … because it may unjustifiably restrict the enjoyment of human rights pertaining to the exercise of peaceful activities, including dissent and political opposition through legitimate associations."

The report documents alleged crimes committed before the country’s ruler was deposed following several weeks of public demonstrations. It provides another awkward example of a trusted American ally in the war on terror using the global campaign against extremists to justify bad behavior and consolidate power at home. Indeed, the same security apparatus that collaborated with the Central Intelligence Agency, which transported suspected terrorists through Tunis, was also responsible for using intimidation and violence to stifle domestic challenges to Ben Ali's rule, according to the report.

"Human rights abuses were at the heart of the problems faced by the people of Tunisia," Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said Wednesday. She announced that she has ordered a team of human rights investigators to begin an investigation today into Tunisia's legacy of human rights. "Therefore, human rights must be at the forefront of the solutions to those problems."

Scheinin's report claims that Tunisian authorities routinely deny detainees basic due-process rights, interrogate suspect in secret detention centers, routinely postdate arrest records to circumvent rules requiring detainees be presented before a judge in a timely fashion. It also noted that custody records during the month of his visit showed that authorities at one police detention center detained at least one person each day, "support[ing] the conclusion that counter-terrorism legislation does not only apply to a small group of very dangerous individuals."

The team was allowed to visit the Bouchoucha police detention facility and the Mornaguia Prison, where they interviewed several prisoners convicted of terrorist offenses. But Scheinin was not permitted to visit the interrogation facility at the Sub-directorate for Criminal Affairs of the Police Judiciare, where the "overwhelming majority of the allegations of torture or ill-treatment [were] received by the Special Rapporteur." Here's Scheinin's account of abuse in Tunisian detention.

"The evidence brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur indicated that suspected terrorists are routinely held in secret in a building of the Ministry of Interior in Tunis," the report claimed. "According to consistent allegations, suspects are regularly subjected to severe beatings on different parts of the body, including genitals, with fists, cables and batons, kicking, slapping, often combined with stripping of their clothes and suspensions (including in the so-called poulet rôti ("roast chicken") position), even in ordinary offices of the [Interior] Ministry. Some reports also described electroshocks and mock-drowning taking place in one particular room in the basement, especially in cases, where suspects resisted to making confessions. Other methods used included extended periods of sleep deprivation, burning with cigarettes, threats with rape, threats to family members and anal rape.… The main purpose of the torture was to extract confessions, and sometimes testimonies about third persons. It normally stopped with the signing of papers that most suspects had not been allowed to read."

Tunisia has been spared some of the worst terrorist violence that has hit other Arab countries; it was the site of two major terrorist attacks in April 2002 and December 2006, which killed a total of 35 people, including foreigners. In 1992, Tunisia tried 265 alleged members of the Islamist Ennahda (Renaissance) movement following a couple of violent incidents that were blamed on the group. Human rights organizations, according to the report, "described the 1992 trials as unfair." The Tunisian rebel group, which is allegedly linked to al Qaeda and listed on the U.N. terrorist black list, is "suspected of plotting, but not carrying out, attacks on the embassies of Algeria, Tunisia and the United States of America in Rome in December 2001."

The report says that a number of countries, including Libya, Italy, Pakistan, and Syria, have forcibly returned Tunisian terrorism suspects to Tunisia despite the prospects that they will face torture. "Several of the returnees reported having been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment during that period, but none of their allegations are known to have been investigated by the Tunisian authorities." Scheinin said he has also encountered evidence that Tunisian authorities held an Algerian national for 75 days after he was sent to Tunisia by the Central Intelligence Agency. The detainee was eventually repatriated to Algeria.

Since 2003, Tunisia imposed sweeping anti-terrorism laws that have criminalized many nonviolent activities, but provided no clear definition of what constitutes a terrorist act. For instance, it is a crime -- even for medical personnel, clergy, and defense lawyers -- to fail to immediately notify authorities "of any acts, information or instructions which may have emerged concerning a terrorist offence." Individuals can also face up to 12 years in prison for "to an organization or entity, whichever their form and the number of its members, which has, even if coincidentally or incidentally, used terrorism as a means of action in the realization for its objectives." The measure, according to Scheinin, "does not include any requirement that the person must be aware of the terrorist nature of the group."

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Haiti: U.N. Cholera Probe

The United Nations will establish an "independent" panel to try to determine the source of the cholera epidemic in Haiti, Bloomberg reported. The U.N. has resisted such a probe, arguing that it is more important to focuses resources on preventing the spread of cholera, which has already killed more than 2,000 people and hospitalized more than 44,000. But the organization has faced criticism that it is seeking to cover up possible links to a Nepalese battalion of U.N. peacekeepers.

Ivory Coast

The United States, France and African governments have warned Ivory Coast's long time ruler, Laurent Gbagbo, that he must step down from power within days or face stiff sanctions, Reuters reported. Western and African governments believe that opposition leader Alassane Ouattara won the country's recent election. The ultimatum comes as government and rebel forces clashed today.

Indigenous Rights

President Barack Obama on Thursday reversed course and endorsed the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which recognizes the cultural and property rights of native Americans and other indigenous communities, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. voted against the declaration when the U.N. General Assembly adopted it in 2007, arguing that it was incompatible with U.S. laws.

Sudan

The U.N. Security Council met to register their concern about the prospects for violence in the upcoming independence referendum in South Sudan, according to the Voice of America, while the U.N.'s top peacekeeping official, Alain Le Roy, said that the U.N. peacekeeping force would not be enough to protect civilians in the event of a resumption of civil war.

Promotion

The White House today announced that Brooke Anderson, the U.N.-based U.S. ambassador for special political affairs, will serve as new chief of staff for the national security council.

Anderson previously worked as the chief of staff for Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, before being promoted to the U.N. ambassadorial post, which bears responsibility for Security Council affairs, U.N. peacekeeping and non-proliferation matters.

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WikiLeaks has released its first confidential cable written by diplomats from the U.S. mission to the United Nations. While the December 2009 cable -- which discusses U.S. efforts on a range of issues before the U.N. General Assembly -- provides no major news revelations, it contains some valuable insights into the way America conducts its business here.

The confidential U.S. diplomatic communication -- which was approved by U.S. ambassador Susan E. Rice -- shows how reliant the U.S. is on its allies, particularly in Europe, to take the lead on politically sensitive issues like the promotion of human rights, where the U.S. often faces criticism for its military and detention policies.  The cable credits the European Union with "collaborating pragmatically" with the Obama administration on its top priorities, including efforts to require emerging economic powers to pay a larger share of the U.N.'s administrative and peacekeeping costs, and to adopt U.N. resolutions criticizing the human rights record of Burma, Iran, and North Korea.

The EU, led by Sweden, also helped Washington fend off efforts by an influential alliance of developing countries -- known as the Group of 77 -- to adopt resolutions that would increase American financial burdens, including a draft resolution affirming a right to economic development.

The EU "responded with alacrity to new U.S. flexibility, particularly on arms control and economic/social issues," according to the cable. "The Swedish ambassador himself repeatedly engaged with G-77 colleagues to sway votes."

The cable, however, also singled out areas where key European powers refused to budge, including its annual support for a General Assembly resolution condemning the U.S. embargo against Cuba: "Spain was a particularly tenacious critic of our Cuba policy." It also expressed frustration with the failure of the EU, despite strong support from Britain, France, and the Netherlands, to significantly weaken a raft of nine pro-Palestinian resolutions that criticize Israel each year. "The EU's annual negotiation of these nine drafts... improved marginally.... The vote outcomes remained lopsided." 

On the whole, this U.N. cable was certainly more businesslike than many of the most dramatic reports flowing out of U.S. embassies  around the world.  But I anticipate that future releases may provide sharper insights into many of the U.N.'s more colorful personalities. Perhaps they will even show us what Rice really thinks about U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

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Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, has turned down an invitation to attend the Dec. 10 event at which Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Chinese pro-democracy advocate, will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Pillay declined the invitation because she is already hosting a human rights day event in Geneva, her spokesman told Turtle Bay. She has no intention of sending a more junior official to represent the organization in her place, the spokesman, Rupert Colville, said.

The decision comes as the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki moon is already facing sharp criticism from human rights groups for failing to press China to release Liu or his wife Liu Xia, who was placed under house arrest after her husband was chosen as the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.  Ban did not congratulate Liu, a leader during the 1989 pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protests, and one of the drafters of Charter 08, a document signed by more than 300 Chinese intellectuals and rights advocates that calls for political reform and an improvement in the country's human rights policies.

In a statement released to the press, Yang Jianli, a Chinese dissident who represents Liu before the Nobel committee, accused the U.N. officials of neglecting their duties. "Ms. Pillay's decision is a clear and unequivocal abdication of her responsibilities as high commissioner, which I believe resulted from direct pressure from the Chinese government," Yang said. "It is especially concerning because it occurs in the wake of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's refusal to raise Dr. Liu's case when he met with Chinese President Hu Jintao shortly Dr. Liu was announced as the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate."

China has mounted an aggressive campaign to dissuade foreign dignitaries to attend the December 10 event, warning that it could harm their countries relations with China. Pillay's spokesman, Colville, said that China played no role in her decision to turn down the invitation. He said that she had already had plans to host a major Geneva meeting with five human rights defenders, including activists from Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia.

"This is not something that she could simply drop. We are trying to put a spotlight on those human rights defenders nobody has heard of," Colville told Turtle Bay. "We have spent months arranging this major event. It's being attended by human rights defenders, diplomats and NGOs, coming from all around the world."

Pillay's supporters said that she had sharply criticized China's treatment of Liu's well before he emerged as a Nobel laureate. In December, 2009, after a Chinese court sentence Liu to 11 years in prison on charges of "suspicion of incitement to subvert state power," Pillay took Beijing to task.

"The conviction and extremely harsh sentencing of Liu Xiaobo mark a further severe restriction on the scope of freedom of expression in China," Pillay said at the time. "Today's verdict is a very unfortunate development that casts an ominous shadow over China's recent commitments to protect and promote human rights."

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As Ban Ki-moon finalized his preparations for his visit this week to Beijing, one of his top advisors, Sha Zukang, traveled to China to present an award to a retired Chinese general who had authority over troops that fired on unarmed civilians during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Sha, the U.N. Undersecretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, presented the World Harmony Award -- a glass plaque cut in the shape of a dove -- to former Chinese Defense Minister, Gen. Chi Haotian, in honor of his unspecified contributions to world peace, according to a report in Chinese state media. The World Harmony Foundation, a private charity headed by a Chinese businessman named Frank Liu, established the award.

It was unclear whether Sha appearance at the award ceremony was a gesture aimed at showing understanding for China's troubled human rights legacy. China has faced more intense scrutiny of its human rights record since Liu Xiobao, a jailed pro-democracy advocate who participated in the Tiananmen Square protests, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But Ban responded to the Nobel announcement by issuing a statement that implicitly questioned the wisdom of the Nobel committee's selection for the prize, and he has been reluctant to publicly raise concerns about the house detention of Liu's wife. In a meeting Monday with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Ban didn't even mention human rights.

Some officials said that Sha, a fervent Chinese nationalist, may have been engaging in a bit of pro-Chinese freelancing, or simply doing a personal favor for a wealthy businessman who has provided financial support to U.N. causes. Sha's office declined to comment, referring calls to the organizers of the award ceremony, The World Harmony Foundation, which did not respond to requests for comment. Officials in Ban's office said they were unaware of Sha's participation in the event. "This is the first we've heard of this," Martin Nesirky, the chief spokesman told Turtle Bay. "I don't have further comment for now."

U.N. officials said there is no specific rule prohibiting U.N. staff from presenting an award on behalf of a private charity. Staff rules, however, require employees "uphold and respect the principles set out in the Charter, including faith in fundamental human rights." They prohibit U.N. employees from accepting instructions from any government or from any other source external to the organization." The rules also require staff "avoid any action and, in particular, any kind of public pronouncement that may adversely reflect on their status, or on the integrity, independence and impartiality that are required by that status."

Still, the award ceremony amounted to another awkward incident for Sha, who has struggled to make the adjustment to life as an international civil servant. It also reflects poorly on Ban. Last month, Sha garnered international notoriety after criticizing the U.N. secretary general under the influence of alcohol at a U.N. retreat. The story was first reported by Turtle Bay.

Gen. Chi, a recipient of China's People's Hero award, served as the Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army during the Tiananmen crackdown, which led to the killing of as many as 3,000 civilians. Chi has publicly defended the military operation, but has denied giving the order to open fire on unarmed protesters.

"As PLA chief of staff he was present at a series of key meetings on the crackdown but he isn't recorded as saying anything," Andrew J. Nathan, a professor of Chinese politics at Columbia University. "He evidently was one of the key officers implementing the crackdown orders but I can't distinguish from these materials what specific role he played within that small group."

"I have no idea who the World Harmony Foundation is, but I suppose they represent the deft hand of the Propaganda Department in extending China's soft power," Nathan said. "I suppose this is a response to the Nobel Peace Prize."

The World Harmony Foundation was established in 2004 to "promote the ideals and principles of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration," according to a statement on the group's web site. It is "dedicated to building Cultures of Peace and Sustainable Environments for all people."

Since 2005, the group has periodically organized ceremonies to ring the Harmony Bell for Peace, which was fashioned out of ammunition donated by the Chinese government and scrap metal collected by Chinese school children. It is trying to raise funding to build more bells.

Top U.N. officials, including former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Deputy U.N. Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro, have rung the Harmony Bell of Peace in ceremonies. In 2008, the group claimed that its founder Frank Liu was selected by an aide to Sha, Guido Bertucci, selected by a top aide to be a spokesperson for the U.N. Global Forum, a unit that promotes better public administration. There is no reference to Liu at the forum's website.

The organization has contributed money to previous U.N. causes, including a commitment to fund a 2009 U.N. concert organized by the U.N.'s public affairs and peacekeeping departments and a private group, the CultureProject. In a July 2009 letter to Liu, published by Inner City Press, the U.N. Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Alain Le Roy, thanked Liu.

"Your support is of enormous importance to us," Le Roy wrote. "We are pleased to invite you to our Departmental Conference Room, where you will be given a complete situational briefing on the activities carried out by our peacekeeping missions around the globe. In addition, we would be pleased to offer you a tour of the Department's situation center where our staff monitors developments on the ground 24 hours a days, seven days a week."

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The International Criminal Court prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has sharply criticized nations, diplomats, and political leaders that have lent legitimacy to suspected war criminals like Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir. In March, he derided international monitors who participated in a U.N.-backed vote that led to Bashir's reelection. "It's like monitoring a Hitler election," he said at the time.

But the Argentine prosecutor will send his deputy, Fatou Bensouda of the Gambia, to Kigali to attend Monday's inauguration of Rwanda leader Paul Kagame, whose army has been accused in a recently leaked U.N. report of committing massive war crimes and possibly genocide in eastern Congo in the 1990s.

Moreno-Ocampo authorized the visit in the hopes of using it to press African leaders to support the court's efforts to hold Bashir and other alleged criminals accountable. "We will meet some African heads of state in Kigali and discuss how to stop the ongoing genocide in Darfur," Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement to Turtle Bay. "There is no solution in Darfur without the involvement of African leaders."

But the move has drawn criticism from some of the court's most passionate defenders, who say that Bensouda's appearance sends the wrong signal to Congolese victims of alleged Rwandan crimes and to Darfuri civilians who will face dire conditions if Rwanda carries through on its threat to withdraw 3,500 U.N. peacekeepers from Darfur to protest the U.N. report.

"It's a bad decision," Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch, one of the court's leading defenders, told Turtle Bay. "This is not about guilt or innocence, which only a court could decide. It's about association and perception."

Bill Pace, a lawyer who oversees the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, an association of more than 2.500 pro-ICC NGOs, said "it's fine" for Fatou to attend the inauguration if she uses her visit to press Rwanda -- which is not a member of the court -- to support the ICC.

Pace said that while he hoped perpetrators of war crimes in Congo would be held accountable, the ICC has no jurisdiction over crimes, like the alleged ones in Congo and Rwanda, committed before the court was established.

The ICC has been facing intense opposition from African leaders, who have complained that the tribunal has focused primarily on African crimes, carrying out investigations in Congo, Sudan, Uganda, and Central African Republic and now preparing a new probe into Kenyan violations.

In July, an African Union summit in Kampala, Uganda, decided that "African Union member states shall not cooperate with the ICC in the arrest and surrender of the president of Sudan." It also rejected a request by Moreno-Ocampo to set up a liaison office with the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to help improve cooperation and understanding of the court's mandate.

Moreno-Ocampo maintains that the allegations that he is singling out Africa are unfair, noting that most of his African investigations have been launched at the request of the governments where the crimes occurred. The Sudan probe, however, was authorized by the U.N. Security Council. He had hoped to use the Kagame inauguration, which will draw heads of state from throughout Africa, to restate his case for supporting the court.

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For three years, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has toiled in obscurity to secure the approval of an obscure U.N. committee that decides who gets to participate in public U.N. meetings and debates.

Over the last week, the group's struggle to gain "consultative status" at the United Nations -- basically a grounds pass and access to open U.N. meetings -- attracted rare attention from Capitol Hill and the White House. It also became a stark symbol of the shrinking influence of American social conservatives at the United Nations.

On Monday, the U.N. Economic and Social Council approved the group's application, essentially overruling a smaller NGO committee that had prevented action on the gay rights group's application for more than 3 years, making it the first American gay and lesbian group to lobby at the United Nations. The vote -- which rights activists feared would be close -- turned out to be a landslide: 23 to 13, with eight abstentions and five government no-shows.

"I welcome this important step forward for human rights, as the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission (ILGHRC) will take its rightful seat at the table of the United Nations," U.S. President Barack Obama said after the vote. "The United Nations is closer to the ideals on which it was founded, and to values of inclusion and equality to which the United States is deeply committed."

Earlier this month, Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Trent Franks (R-AZ) rallied behind a campaign headed by Islamic countries, principally Egypt, to block a move to allow the New York-based group to secure accreditation. In a letter to U.N. members, Smith and Franks wrote that "the preservation of the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of religion require" the gay rights organizations to undergo further questioning of its views.

In previous years, American conservatives like Smith, backed by the White House and the Vatican, exercised enormous influence on social matters at the United Nations. But the letter from Smith and Franks appeared to have backfired, awakening congressional leadership that has grown decidedly more liberal during the past two years.

Within a week, 15 Congressional House members, including powerful committee members like Barney Frank (D-MA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA), sent their own letters urging U.N. members to support the gay rights groups. Sens. Kristen E. Gilbrand (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) added their voices to the cause. And Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), the influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged U.N. members to end the delays.

"It is a tactic that should not be allowed to stand," Kerry wrote in a July 16 letter to U.N. members. "It would be very difficult if this procedural mechanism or other unjustifiable opposition were to be used to prevent an NGO that's highly regarded by the US Department of States and the human rights community from being fully considered for consultative status."

Behind the scenes, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan E. Rice and her team quietly informed key governments, including African states, of the importance Obama and his administration placed on this issue. Jessica Stern, a policy advisor for IGLHRC, said the diplomacy was critical in persuading African states that might have voted against the measure to abstain or to not show up.

"There is no question that having high-level U.S. government officials make calls on our behalf made a difference, particularly on the high number of abstentions," Stern said, noting that the Bush administration had supported her group's bid for consultative status but never invested the same level of political capital on it. "There was always going to be controversy around our application. But the support of the U.S. government was incredibly significant to the victory we enjoyed yesterday."

Stern and other gay rights activists maintain that U.S. support for gays at the United Nations comes at a time when the Obama administration is facing criticism on the domestic front for not pressing hard enough for gay rights at home.

Stern said that while the outcome may underscore the waning influence of the conservative international religious alliance at the United Nations, it also underscored that those groups could work together to mount a vigorous campaign.

In criticizing the current U.S. position, Smith and Franks drew upon arguments put forward by Egypt and other governments. They cited the Yogyakarta Principles, which the IGLHRC has endorsed and appeals to states to "ensure that the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression does not violate the rights and freedoms of persons of diverse sexual orientation and gender identities."

In June, when IGLHRC's application came before the U.N. NGO Committee, Egypt expressed concern that the principles might be used to subject religious leaders, who condemn homosexual behavior, to persecution. Smith and Franks said they "have serious questions regarding the IGLHRC's support for the internationally recognized rights to freedom of religion and freedom of expression."

Here's how the vote played out:

Votes For - 23

• Argentina
• Australia
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Canada
• Chile
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Guatemala
• Italy
• Japan
• Liechtenstein
• Malta
• Norway
• Peru
• Poland
• Rep. of Korea
• Slovenia
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Uruguay

Votes Against - 13

• Bangladesh
• China
• Comoros
• Egypt
• Malaysia
• Morocco
• Namibia
• Niger
• Pakistan
• Russian Fed.
• Saudi Arabia
• Venezuela
• Zambia

Abstaining - 13

• Bahamas
• Cote D'Ivoire
• Ghana
• India
• Mauritius
• Mongolia
• Mozambique
• Philippines
• Rep. of Moldova
• Rwanda
• Saint Kitts & Nevis
• Turkey
• Ukraine

Absent - 5

• Cameroon
• Congo
• Guinea-Bissau
• Iraq
• Saint Lucia

U.N. peacekeepers in Chad will begin packing their gear this week, the first step in the U.N.'s phased withdrawal from a politically fragile African country that has grown weary of hosting more than 4,000 foreign peacekeepers on its territory.

But the move has alarmed human rights officials and some U.N. officials, who fear that the U.N. drawdown will leave hundreds of thousands of Darfuri refugees exposed to violent attacks from a host of predators, including elements of the very Chadian security forces that are supposed to protect them.

The U.N. mission in Central Africa and Chad, known as MINURCAT, has warned that Chad's security forces lack the training, leadership, and technical capacity to fill the security vacuum that will be left behind by the U.N.'s departure, according to internal U.N. documents. Both the Chadian army and a U.N.-trained police force -- the Détachement Intégré de Sécurité (DIS), which was established in October 2008 precisely to help provide security for refugee camps -- are considered not up to the job.

"The stated ability of Chadian Military forces to replicate the present operational outputs of [the U.N. force] in an orderly and structured manner is...strongly disputed," according to a security assessment issued by the U.N. peacekeeping mission that was obtained by Turtle Bay. The report claims that "No credible evidence exists that the Chadian military forces have in place the required logistical supply chain" to ensure a safe environment for relief workers and displaced people.

The Security Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to begin scaling down the mission, while urging Chad to meet its commitment to ensuring the safe delivery of relief supplies to the needy and to protecting refugees and U.N. relief agencies. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the decision and highlighted what he saw as recent improvements in the capacity of the U.N.-trained DIS unit to secure refugee camps, citing more than 7,000 security patrols and aid escort operations.

"Notable advances have also been highlighted in the promotion of the rule of law, including human rights," Ban wrote in a report to the Security Council last month. He also cautioned that he was "mindful that Chad is situated in a region that, despite some recent positive developments, remains fragile.

Nevertheless, in a sign of its lack of confidence in the Security Council's decision, the U.N.'s top refugee agency said Wednesday that it may have to scale back its activities when the U.N. forces withdraw.

"When they leave, we might have to restrict our operations," Mans Nyberg, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told the BBC. "We understand the reasons behind [the decision to withdraw U.N. peacekeepers] but we are concerned for the consequences for our operations in eastern Chad."

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Chad was established in September 2007 to replace a European peacekeeping force tasked with stabilizing Chad's border with Sudan and handling the reception of Darfuri refugees. Chad's leader Idriss Déby never wanted foreign troops on his soil, and only grudgingly accepted them under pressure from France. Déby announced plans to kick the U.N. out in January, after securing a peace agreement with Sudan to secure the border and halt anti-government rebels on both sides.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups, citing the peace deal's failure to provide for the protection of the more than 400,000 thousand refugees and displaced civilians already in Chad, argue that U.N. forces are still urgently needed.

Claudio Cordone, the secretary-general for Amnesty International, said that a provision in the U.N. drawdown resolution that calls for the protection of civilians in some circumstances is a "fig leaf." He urged the council to reconsider its decision from Tuesday, saying it has an obligation to "impose its will" on Chad in order to ensure that civilians are protected. "In a situation where the government says ‘I don't want your troops but they're the only ones who can provide a minimum of security ,' you would be able to impose your will on that government," Cordone told Turtle Bay.

Amnesty and aid workers in Chad have also expressed unease over the ability of the DIS, the U.N.-backed police force, to guarantee security in the camps. DIS has been linked to rights abuses by both the U.N. and human right groups. The U.N. has repeatedly cited DIS for violations ranging from reckless driving to human rights abuses.

"DIS officers have been involved in some serious incidents involving the use of firearms, undermining the confidence of humanitarian actors," according to a July 2009 report by Ban. "To date, four cases of serious misconduct have been recorded, including the murder of a civilian in March and the accidental killing of boy in Joukou Angarana in June. On Tuesday, DIS recruits in the town of Gereda lost control of the Nissan Land Cruiser they were driving and ploughed into a crowd of civilians in the town of Gereda, injuring seven and killing a woman." 

Secretary-General Ban, however, has pushed back against the more serious allegations. In his latest report on Chad to the Security Council, Ban said that over the past year the 800-person DIS successfully dismissed 45 officers on disciplinary grounds and conducted thousands of patrols and humanitarian aid escorts.

But U.N. peacekeeping officials have said privately that Ban has exaggerated their accomplishments by relying on unreliable statistics furnished by the Chadian government. They contend that the U.N. has no systematic procedure in place to measure whether the DIS really have been carrying out their patrols.

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